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Culinary Tour:  Rio and Salvador

Taste of Brazil

August 10th – 21st, 2006

 

This Twelve-Day, Fully Escorted Tour Includes:

• Round trip airfare from Miami to Brazil & airfare from Rio to Salvador
• Transfer to and from airport/hotel/airport in both cities
• Four star hotel in Rio
• Four star hotel in Salvador  
• All air, hotel taxes and baggage handling
• Welcome lunch party in Rio
• Six meals, (not including complimentary breakfast at the hotels)
• Tour of Sugar Loaf Mountain (Pao de Acucar) and Christ Redeemer (Corcovado) statue in Rio
• Rio’s Senerarium Night Club 
• Culinary day in Rio
• Optional tour – Historic tour of Rio’s neighborhood
• Pool party in Salvador
• The Benção  – Tuesday Evening at Pelourinho
• Party reception in Salvador
• Historic tour of downtown Salvador
• Culinary day in Salvador
• Candomble: Afro-Brazilian ceremony
• Optional tour – visit to the country side; Cachoeira ( Sisterhood of God Death)
• Sailing to Itaparica Island
• English speaking local Brazilian guides
• Chef Culinary Expert
• On-site bilingual tour director
• Bilingual Tour Guides
• And much more …

 

DAY-BY-DAY ITINERARY:
Day 1 – Thursday - August 10th - Miami: evening flight from the US to Rio de Janeiro. You are off to Brazil for an experience of a lifetime!
Day 2 – Friday - August 11th - Rio: Morning arrival at Rio’s International Airport, transfer to the four-star Miramar Palace Hotel on famed Copacabana Beach. Evening activity: Group orientation and welcome lunch party.
Lunch at a churrascaria (BBQ Brazilian style buffet – discussion on the history of churrascaria and gauchos)
This churrascaria is located at the biggest urban park in Latin America, Aterro do Flamengo, between the city center and the south zone. It has a complete infrastructure of more than 5.000 square miles, all in front of one of the most dazzling sights in Rio de Janeiro, the Guanabara's Bay and the Sugar Loaf. The Restaurant offers a distinctive Brazilian barbecue, salad and cold cut buffet, Japanese food and seafood. (Dessert and drinks and not included)
Evening activity - Rio’s Senerarium Night Club
Perhaps Rio’s hottest nightspot.  This night club has three floors, each lavish decorated with antiques.  Balconies overlook the stage on the 1st floor, with dancers keeping time to jazz-infused samba.
Local Bossa Nova Live Music (second option)
Day 3 – Saturday August - 12th - Rio: CULINARY DAY
We will visit a favorite restaurant in Rio to taste some of the favorite dishes of Rio for lunch. Learn how some of these favorite dishes are made. Recipes will be translated and ready for you to take and try at home. Learn also how to make the famous Capirinha and other Brazilian cocktails.
Optional evening activity to be announced
Day 4 - Sunday - August 13th - Rio: Free day to relax on the beach or take an optional tour.
Optional tour:
You will explore the historic buildings from the Empire and Republic periods.  Beautiful early 20th century architecture, antiques shops and samba bars.  Visit Lapa and Santa Teresa, friendly neighborhoods on the top of the hill with manors and cobbled streets.  Lapa is the location where Snoop Dog shot his video “Beautiful”.  
Optional evening activity to be announced

 

Day 5 – Monday, August 14th - Rio: Beautiful Rio Day
Christ of Redeemer
We will journey to Corcovado Mountain! After a beautiful scenic drive along Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon, passengers arrive at the bottom of the Corcovado hill. Here you will embark on a comfortable train-ride which will wind its way to the top of the beautiful mountain where the statue of Christ the Redeemer is located (2.300 ft above sea level). Here you can overlook Rio de Janeiro and discover why it is known as the Marvelous city! This tour also includes a drive along Rio's famous beaches: Rios’s Beaches – Barra da Tijuca; Sao Conrado; Leblon, Ipanema and Praia Vermelha.
Lunch at Minas
This unique restaurant serves the food from the states of Minas Gerais, which has one of the best Brazilian cuisines and strongly influenced by African culinary. The dishes are not sophisticated in appearance, but are very tasty. Originated from the old farms, they are best prepared in a wood stove, which cooks the food slowly and makes the best black beans possible. Yes, black beans and pork are in almost all recipes from Minas. Chicken too is very much used. Minas is special because it has a wood stove and prepares great mineira cuisine in Rio. You will find chicken and okra, tutu à mineira, green chard, and all the wonderful, very sweet, deserts from Minas, always accompanied by a slice of cheese.
Sugar Loaf
A solid rock mountain 1, 229 feet high at the entrance to Guanabara Bay is one of the landmarks most readily identified with Rio.  We will take the cable car at Praia Vermelha to it is first stop at a height of 215 m.  The second and final stop of the cable car is at the summit of Sugar Loaf, 394 m. The splendid view of the city is framed by the mountains.

Optional evening activity: To be announced.

Day 6 – Tuesday, August 15th - Rio/ Salvador - Salvador: Early afternoon flight from Rio to Salvador. Transfer to the four-star Vila Gale Hotel on Ondina Beach. Upon arrival, unwind at our pool party and orientation.
Evening activity:  The Benção  – Tuesday Evening at Pelourinho
Tuesday night is Pelourinho's biggestNight. It's called benção (or "blessing"); from an origin in the Igreja do Santo Antônio's custom of giving away bread to the poor on Tuesday evenings.  Night out on the cobble stones streets.  Cafes and live music.
Day 7 – Wednesday, August 16th - Salvador: Historic Tour of Salvador/
Historical Tour of Pelourinho (Old City) - Pelourinho means “whipping post" in Portuguese. It is one of the most historic centers of Brazil where the first slave market was developed. In this area you will visit the first African Church of the New World built in 1770; The African-Brazilian Museum; Afro-Brazilian; the City’s Museum, art galleries, souvenirs shops and various other important historical landmarks.  At Pelourinho, will have lunch at Senac’s culinary school, which serves a variety of food from the state of Bahia. (Lunch included)
Try Acaraje and experience why some of these foods are used as offerings.
Evening activity: A private party reception to meet diverse members of Salvador’s community.
Day 8 – Thursday, August 17th - Salvador: Cooking day –
Stroll through the open air markets and taste and learn about the tropical fruits and foods in Brazil. Watch the Baihanas cook authentic cuisine on the street with English Translation. Take some time to taste the local fresh fruits, juices and enjoy lunch with a Demonstration/class on the traditional cuisines of Bhatia. You will learn to make a Muqueca de Peixe (Fish in coconut milk) that will stun your dinner guests. Recipe folders are in English. Take home some of Brazil’s most treasured recipes.
Evening activity: A Special Evening at Solar do Unhão.
A chance to experience a true Afro- Bahian cultural experience.  The evening starts off with dinner, an international buffet which also features local Bahian Delicacies. After dinner, you will experience a true Afro-Bahian cultural performance. The exciting music and dance, performed by Native Afro-Bahian people, will transport the traveler to another place in time. The folkloric dances and songs are presented in a spectacular manner, featuring pulsating rhythms, sensual movements and beautiful costumes. The variety of songs and dances, such as the Nigerian Yoruba Religious style (Candomble) the Fisherman’s Rituals and the Samba Dance, will prepare the audience for the climax at the show. The show reaches its zenith during the Capoeira, a Brazil's form of martial arts. Ours guests will be memorized when the dancers display their awesome physical talent, performing flips and amazing twists and turns. As the show comes to a close, everyone who witnessed this unforgettable evening will gain a greater awareness and love for Afro-Bahian food, song and dance.
Day 9 – Friday, August 18th – Salvador: Free day to relax on the beach or optional tours.
Optional tour – Sailing in Salvador
We will leave the city harbor on a safe and comfortable schooner with a professional pilot, bartenders and servers. Travelers may have a tropical drink (price not included) while they bathe in the wonderful bahian sun. The first stop will be Priest Island, a stunning tropical paradise where one can swim, snorkel, sun bathe, stroll along the sandy beaches, or purchase shells, coral, or other handicrafts made by local merchants. After two hours at Priest Island, you reboard the schooner, set sail for Itaparica Island, and enjoy a delicious lunch of salads, beans & rice, fish, meats, deserts and coffee. Following lunch, you may take a short tour featuring a stop at the original "Fountain of Youth", or simply relax on the beach. Lunch at Itaparica Island.   
For those land lovers you will have other optional tours.
Evening Activity: Witness Candomble, the African-based Brazilian religion brought to Brazil by enslaved West Africans. We will experience a ceremony and receive blessings by spiritual elders.
Day 10 – Saturday, August 19th - Salvador: Cachoeira & Sister of the Good Death.
The Sisterhood of the Good Death originated in Salvador at a time when Blacks were denied access to Catholic ceremonies. Consequently, religious rituals combining Catholic and Candomble practices were carried out in secret. Soon, several churches practiced this combination of religions. As time passed, The Sisterhood of the Good Death in the back-bay city of Cachoeira was the only one to survive. Their annual festival (attended by followers from around the world) is held in August, and is a marvelous spectacle. It is led by the sumptuously bedecked Sisters, whose conspicuous gold filigree and coral jewelry belie the reserved dignity of these religious women. Besides the festivals outward expressions of joy and revelry, The Sisterhood of the Good Death's undeniable value lies in its preservation of maintaining the indivisible mark of the Saints and Orixas, characteristic of Afro-Brazilian syncretism, guarded in secrecy and taboos. In masses and processions of a Catholic character, in ritual feasts prepared in the Candomble tradition, in the Sisters traditional black and white robes, in the candles and flowers, and in fundamentals and ceremonies, the Good Death Festival emanates the unique character of the sole surviving Sisterhood of Afro-Brazilian women, united in their faith and devotion to the Holy Mother.  Cachoeira is located in the country side of Salvador; this activity is all day long.  You leave the hotel in the morning and return in the late part of the afternoon.  Lunch at the Covent.
Optional evening activity – optional tour to be announced.
Day 11 – Sunday August 17th - Salvador: Free morning to relax on the beach or enjoy last minute shopping.
In the afternoon we leave from Salvador's International airport to flight back to Miami.
Day 12 – Monday August 18th - Miami: Arrive in the U.S. early morning.

PACKAGE COST:
DOUBLE OCCUPANCY - $2,500 per person
SINGLE OCCUPANCY - $2,900
PACKAGECOSTLAND ONLY:
DOUBLE OCCUPANCY - $1,500 per person
SINGLE OCCUPANCY - $1,900

Ronda Priestner @ (415) 674-1292 or rondapriestner@aol.com

 

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